Circuit breakers used in aircraft electrical systems provide overcurrent protection, and also may serve as switches for turning equipment on and off. In such a circuit breaker, a push-pull handle on the circuit breaker is moved from an inward position outward to open a corresponding load circuit. This action may either be manual or automatic in the event of an overload or fault condition. When the push-pull handle is moved from the outward position inwardly, the load circuit is reenergized. Alternatively, the open and closed action of a known circuit breaker can also be actuated via a toggle.
With reference to FIG. 1, one type of circuit breaker used in aircraft electrical systems is a plug-in circuit breaker 10. The plug-in circuit breaker 10 includes a push-pull handle 12 similar to what was described above. The aircraft electrical system includes a bus structure 14 on which a plurality of pins 16 (only two are shown in FIG. 1) are provided. The known plug-in circuit breaker 10 can be used for one phase and three phase devices. The known plug-in circuit breaker 10 includes two sockets 18, and each socket 18 receives a respective pin 16 disposed on the bus structure 14. One of the sockets acts as a line terminal (or power input) for the plug-in circuit breaker 10 and the other socket operates as a load terminal (or power output). These are interchangeable at the circuit breaker level and are typically dictated by the bus work and wiring layout. In this known plug-in circuit breaker 10, each of the sockets 18 is brazed or welded onto a respective terminal (not visible) located in a housing 20 of the plug-in circuit breaker 10. Although this form of connection works adequately, brazing the socket to the respective terminal requires multiple processes and steps, which can be costly or cumbersome.